FIM Sidecar World Championship in Assen

With little less than two weeks since the last round in Croatia, the world sidecar teams are on the road again.  This time to the 4.542km circuit of Assen in the north of Holland.  It is a few years since world sidecars have been at Assen, but I am sure all the teams will enjoy this track; it has been shortened in length in recent years but is still one of the greatest tracks in the world.  Moto GP will be here too, and the spectator attendance has been known to be around 130,000 over the weekend.

Dutch teams, Kees Kentrop and Danny De Haas sitting seventh in the championship, and Bennie Streuer and Geert Koerts, eighth, will be hoping to please their fans with good results at their main circuit in Holland.  Another Dutch team, Jamo Keppel and Arjen Portijk, had major technical problems in Croatia, and will be hopping that they have rectified the problem.

Will one of the top teams in the championship, Birchall Racing, Ben and Tom, be in Assen?  They too have had technical problems since the start of the season, and did not compete in Croatia due to these problems.

Kurt Hock and Enrico Becker who had a great third place result in race one in Croatia, had a big crash in the second race, with Kurt injuring his shoulder and Enrico breaking his wrist, I don’t think they will be present at Assen, time will tell though!!

The top three teams in the championship will be hoping to have no problems in Assen, third in the championship Scott Lawrie and James “Juggy” Neave who had a great second place in the Gold Race in Croatia, will be wanting another podium, but hopping for the  top spot.  Jorg Steinhausen and Ashley Hawes will be ever fast and trying to get the top spot too, they will be trying to upset Pekka Paivarinta and Adolf Hanni who are leading the championship so far, only by nine points though.

With only one race in Assen, and on Friday, all the teams will be looking for a good result for valuable points.